7052 réponses à ce sujet

[paulxxxx]

Bioware, i love me3 and its stunning. 
Respect your creation and how you wanna lead the story to its end.
Just its not being presented in a way that we feel great.... Thats it.

Modifié par paulxxxx, 17 mars 2012 - 11:24 .

[Horus Blackheart]

Since this thread is rather long i'll most likly repeat things that have been mentioned already. i've slmost compleated my second play though now. The first ending i got left me with a feeling of "is that all there is"? So I started replaying and having to put up with the iratatting/ over used quick time events that aparently are the best way to create "IMPACTFUL MOMENTS!". That was one of the most jaring aspects of this game for me.

Others have already noted the plot holes/ the no win senreo with the rakni/geth. As somone that put in cloce to 400 hours plus in to all 3 games todate I find some of the design choices bewildering. The galactic readness meta game for example seems utterly pointless It looks like that was droped in there to give the rather shallow (and dull mp some semblence of a function.

I'm not the sort to start waving pitch forks around, i'm not some rabid fanboy ether. The truth is mass effect 3 does so many things right only to fall flat on its face top heavy with the expectations its built up.. No game or ending is going to please every one. But honistly the missteps here are harder to over look because I was enjoying the game. I dont want a lot of over the top fan servise I just want to feel a sense of forfillment and not your typcal cheap startreck genarations send off (kirks death).

another thing that buged me was how some seemingly popular npcs were sidlined or worse relagated to an email. the feros plot is a good example of that.

Lastly a request: If bioware is genunely listening then please dont try to slap a band ade on things and ruch our a fixed "it was all a dream dlc.

The mass effect lagacy deserves more than that I dont think this is somthing you can rush. The coop is frankly forgetable. insted I want a feeling of "that was worth 400+ hours of my life. The reason people are upset here is we know bioware can deliver when thay stop taking slopy shortcuts to make a few extra bucks.

[DextroDNA]

An ending where the indoctrination theory turns out to be true. We go to the Citadel, TIM turns into a Saren husk and we kill him. Anderson lives or dies depending on choices made in the game(s). You activate the Crucible (and it actually works), and it destroys the Reapers. If your EMS is too low, the fleets will get destroyed. If it's lower than that, the fleets get destroyed and Shepard dies. Any lower than that, and everyone on Earth dies along with Shepard and the fleets. But the Mass Relays stay in-tact and so does the Citadel.
If none of the above can be done, just don't destroy the Mass Relays and the Citadel. PLEASE. I can't see another ME game ever without them.

[tiagokun]

 I finished Mass Effect 3 last night and took some moment to think and express what I thought about it. 

I find the ending that I got fair and good, I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people are saying, that said, I found the ending lacking. The game so heavily involved with the characters, but the ending just shows them exiting a ship? I would like to know what happened to them besides surviving on a different planet.

What happened to Liara, Kaidan or Ashley, Garrus, Tali, Wrex, Miranda, Jacob, Jack, Samantha or Morinth and Grunt? 
After 3 games of great, happy and sad moments with all of them, I really wish you think this through and expand the ending. I'm not asking for it to change, I respect the creativity of the author.

To sum it up, my only sugestion is that you give some closure on the characters that me and a lot of people come to know and love.

[daecath]

I think the only way to do an ending update would be to use the indoctrination theory. Enough of the community buys into that that it's pretty much the unofficial ending already. You could try a retcon DLC or patch that erases it and replaces it with something completely different, but I don't think it will be as successful at restoring the fans' faith as taking the existing endings and using them as fuel for something else would be. That's going to be the only way that you can honor the original vision for the end, while still acknowledging the criticisms of the community. However, the one thing that will be paramount will be to be honest. Go ahead and use it, but if it wasn't intended to be that way from the start, don't try to play it off like it was. I can respect the artistic vision behind the original endings, even if I don't agree with them.

Frankly, I don't want to dictate a script. I've always trusted Bioware to make great decisions when it came to story, and have never been disappointed until now. What I will say is that I want an ending that fully reflects the decisions made in all 3 games, up to and including the decision you made in the core ending.

And I want a possibility of success. The running theme in these games has always been that individual choice matters, and that one person can make a difference. That's what makes them so special, and the lack of that in the endings is what makes those so upsetting. I play games to escape from reality, and if I wanted an existential lesson on the futility of life, the illusion of free will, and the inconsequential nature of the individual - I'll go watch a political debate. From my games, I want hope. I want a chance at giving a giant middle finger to the odds, and succeeding in the face of overwhelming opposition.

I also want a possibility of failure. Real failure. Pick the wrong option, don't do enough to prepare, and you should have to watch the Earth turn to vapor, or have Shepard go on a killing spree of her closest friends, eyes glowing bright blue, or something catastrophic like that. If you can't succeed, there's no point in trying (ie. playing the game). And if you can't fail, then success is meaningless.

[paralitos]

personally there are two things that bother me in the ending

1. The normandy scene is very random, it would be better if it was just shot down everybody dies and get over with that thing

2. I would also like to see a bigger impact from the war assets, the link of ALL the war assets with the crucible was also random IMO

[SoulfulMiles]

I really thought the game overall was awesome, except for the ending. I would like to see the following:

• A proper bossfight: I want Shepard to take on Harbringer, or something equally awesome.
• More variation in the endings: Catastrophic to happy, it would be nice to have different playthroughs give you different endings. You should be able to lose the war completely, and you should be able to pull off the impossible odds, defeat the Reapers, and be reunited with your crew, and something in the middle.
• Epiloge: I want to know what happens to the characters of interest and the galaxy after the war. Less speculation, more answers. A great example of how this could be done, is found in the Fallout-series.
• A more logical conclusion: Several threads here on BSN have already pointed out logical inconsistencies in the sequence of events in the ending. (How did Anderson get ahead of me if he came in after me? How did TIM get there at all? And so on.)

If nothing else is possible, I would simply like a that lets you set the option to cut away from the ending after the chat with Anderson, before the MagicalSpaceGodChild-sequence. That alone would increase replayability.

That's all I've got for now, thanks for listening.

[Stu_Shepard]

Apart from the inevitable extension to the ending I would have liked more of the following during the game:

1) More interactions with people on the citadel e.g. Discoverin the location in a conversation rather than overhearing conversations. In previous games Sherpard was a good Samaritan who would build dialogue and get involved with people's problems whereas in ME3 he just came accross as a creepy nosey neighbour who listened in on strangers without getting to know them.
2) When scanning planets, find areas that can be landed on to do a mission. That would serve as some sort of "reward" for going through the boring scanning process.
3) When Reapers discover you whilst scanning, a small mingame with space combat would have been great.
4) The exorcist-style head twists and invisible squadmates during conversations should be fixed, although it didn't really bother me too much because it made me laugh most of the time.

I really hope that future DLC doesn't just focus on Multiplayer and we get some new single player missions. I wouldn't mind seeing:
1) More thresher maws!!! A mission in a nest would be amazing!!! Even a thresher maw husk as an experimental Ceberus weapon would be cool.
2) Missions riding vehicles. I quite liked the Hammerhead in ME2, but it would be good to have a selection to choose from.
3) A mission involving investigating whether crewmembers of the Normandy have been indoctrinated. It could serve as a change of pace to the "point and shoot" missions that dominated ME3. If I remember right, Samaras loyalty mission was one of the most popular missions in ME2 and not a single bullet was fired, it was purely good dialogue and story.
4) A mission expanding on the relevance of "Dark Energy" as introduced in ME2. There could be a lot of potential there to introduce a new universal threat.
5) A mission to the Yagh homeworld. The shadowbroker was a great opponent and I'd like to see more of his race.

[Uebermax]

I loved Mass Effect 1-3! One of my best moments in ME3 was making peace between the Quarrians and the Geth. Or the scene where Anderson is dying beside me...
 
Then the Catalyst Kid shows up and gives me 3 bad choices and a feeble explanation of the Reapers, which I didn’t feel was needed, cheapening them into being the Catalysts gardening tools. I almost wanted to give the galaxy to the reapers, rather than have to deal with that kid!
 
I would gladly have sacrificed my Shepard and the citadel to destroy all reapers and save my companions! But destroying the entire Mass Relay System as well felt like I was dooming galactic civilization to a new dark age. If only there would have been some hint at rebuilding after the final battle (using Reaper tech FTL drives etc) and something about more of my friends surviving than just (in my case) Joker, EDI and Samantha. Was that all I got for farming 6507 Effective Military Strength points (more than twice the amount needed to fill the EMS-meter)?
 
Reading the many good ideas for improved endings on the suggested changes forum gave me new hope and some new ideas. This is what I would have much preferred:
 
1)      No Catalyst Kid.
2)      Choice to destroy the Reapers (Shepard dies, the Citadel is destroyed, friends live).
3)      Choice to de-shield the Reapers (Shepard lives, some friends may die in final battle).
4)      Choice to Send Reapers away (postponing the extermination event).
5)      Choice to do nothing and let the Reapers get on with it.
6)      Choice whether or not to destroy the Citadel.
7)      Choice whether or not to destroy the Mass Relays.
8)      Normandy crashes on Earth (makes so much more sense).
9)      Show companions who survived mourning or re-uniting with Shepard.
10)    No old stargazer – boy stinger scene.
 
I suppose what I feel was almost totally missing from the ending was any sense choice and feelings of closure. ME3 is still a good game, but with a better ending, it could become a great game, just like ME1 and ME2 was!
 
Thank you for listening, BioWare.

Modifié par Uebermax, 17 mars 2012 - 11:27 .

[Doctor_Jackstraw]

The lack of a big Virmire/Illos or Suicide Mission scenario where we're forced to make major decisions that effect individuals in that final mission is the bummer. Yes we get to pick 3 reaper endings, but we feel like there should be more, it feels like the big WTF moment before the REAL ending. (Neon Genesis Evangelion is a great example of this) Some new second phase to the battle where we really get to see the results of the hammer and sword decisions play out in interesting ways. The decision to recruit the raccni queen vs freeing the fake queen or killing the queen should have an impact on how the crucible works in the ending. ME1 set a precedence that ME2 greatly surpassed in its ending. ME3 fails to surpass ME2's finale. Though that's not to say I didn't appreciate it. I thought it was a beautiful finale but from a "am i going to play this game a bunch of times" perspective it took away from that.


The big thing with the ending is that everyone was able to accept thier ending initially. Everyone had the thought of "Oh I wonder what the other endings are like?" What we were looking for was result of choice. The Rannoch and Tuchunka missions are resolutions to plots of the past, but in doing so they introduce another element ontop of that that the player expects to see follow through in the ending. The quest for loyalty in ME2 payed off well. The quest for war assets in ME3 doesnt. The player doesnt really understand how thier efforts effected the ending and feels like they didnt at all. A finale highly tied to your decisions in building up those war assets would make those decisions feel heavy, rather than losing weight. Losing everything meant that the decisions we made didn't ammount to anything, because either decision would have wound up the same way. Its a typical grieving reaction, feeling like a failure is one thing, feeling powerless is another, alltogether more depressing thing in the end that takes away from past experiences rather than adding to them.

Modifié par Doctor_Jackstraw, 17 mars 2012 - 11:28 .

[kakyo01]

we've been told in an interview previous to the ME3-release that we wouldn't get an simply A,B,C-Ending and yet we got exactly that... it's the worst case of an A,B,C-ending because all options lead to more or less the same cutscene that has no closure on what's happening at all (and characters teleporting and acting atypical from what we know) (btw, the endings are 100% the same for people who're colorblind)

we've been told that our decisions would matter yet all of them were dropped after the last conversation between anderson and shepard... after that scene we're given the same choises no matter what we've done so far killing the replayvalue of the whole series because I'm getting the same ending over an over

this is the last part of a trilogy and it NEEDS closure and not "lots of speculation from everyone"... have'nt you learned from "Lost"? nearly everyone loved the ride from the series yet after the last episode of Lost the only thing you can hear about the series is how bad the ending was... and ME3 has an similar effect because it's out of line with the rest of the series

---

the indoctrination-theory works fine as a way to "repair" the ending... let the current ending be a fight for Shepards mind (blue & green are favorable outcomes for the Reapers (indoc complete) and red is a favorable ending for Sheps task to defeat the reapers (indoc broken))

indoctrinated Shepards aren't necessary an "Game Over" for the player... they could be playable during an additional ending an end up betraying their comrades at the "real ending" and siding with the reapers (even that would create replayablility)

I want to see what's happening... if you want my crew to pop up on the Normandy then show it... don't have them drop out of the Normandy during a 20sec cutscene even though all of them have been in London a few minutes before... if you want Joker to try to escape the blast then show us how he decided to abbandon the battlefield...

remember... this is the end of a 5 years long trilogy... its a bad idea to have it end with an open ending... that's not what people have been working for... the ending isn't "bittersweet"... it's a failure... it's downright disappointing for everyone who listened to the pre-release interviews where we've been told we would get a "personal ending"... we've got an ending (plural) that is as impersonal as it could get (everyone no matter how he/she played got the very same ending)

[NomadDC]

<offtopic> Finally, thread I was looking for ^^ </offtopic>

Next comes serious stuff about whole game (not only plot)

I decided to split it into different parts and subparts to make it easy to read.

Part 1: What I enjoyed.
- Tech part
   - Game engine is awesome. Optimized, no bugs on my PC, no glitches/crashes. Awesome job
   - Origin addition is good, as DLC managment is way easyer now. And inviting friends is a great idea.
- Story mode
   - Major part of game is just great, I'd say about 95%.
   - Whole Rannoch part is great. I loved that dialogue with Tali (if she is your LI) in the beginning of final mission there, it was just awesome. Wish there was more LI-connected stuff in game. Also (I made peace btw geth and quarians) I enjoyed how it's all ended up - quarians return to their homeworld, and moreover that they will get their immune system fixed with geth help. It made me happy ^^
   - How Citadel is made. Generally it's good, but there are some issues (check "what I didn't enjoy section").
   - Weapon system is nice - I never used shotguns and heavy pistols, and no heavy weapon on your back is nice too (it felt awful in ME2, that HUGE thing on your back).
   - Weapon upgrades - loved it as well. Well done.
   - Skill system - also improved since ME1 and 2. Makes you think a bit before making a choise
   - Combat rolls - good idea
   - Overall compat system was greatly improved.
   - Cutscenes are nice, really good idea to put some in game. (also check in "dislike" section about it)
   - Normandy is pretty good, alliance colours, crew, etc. looks great (but check "dislikes")
- MP part
   - Overall it's great.
   - Level design is good, all maps look nice
   - Also missions on random waves are great, makes it feel more interactive, not just killkillkillkill.
   - Character customization - good idea, even assuming we can change only colour/pattern.

Part 2: What I didn't enjoy/what I think is bad.
- Tech part
   - If origin gets glitched (for ex. you lost internet connection for 1 min and it went offline) game starts to lag. you'll have to exit game, than Origin, relaunch them and than you'll be able to play again.
   - I'd like to see a hi-res textures pack or/and smth for 64-bit systems (you know, like it Skyrim, hi-res textures for strong PCs)
   - Minor bugs, when characters got bugged in dialogues and you speak with wall/empty air insted of %person_name%
   - Same bug when characters skip some animation parts and "teleport" from one place to another when they are supposed to walk/run/jump/whatever there.
   - Crew teleportation. I find it annoyng, as they do it too often. Most of times they just teleport instead of running/jumping/using ladders. Make them teleport less, please. It's just awfully annoying.
   - Key bindings. Spacebar is a good key, I agree, but combat roll, use, take cover, sprint on one button is too much. I'd like to see them split btw 2 buttons atleast. Or best way - let player bind these actions as he like.
   - Need crouch button. It would be nice, to have ability to crouch. Sometimes you just need to do so, without taking cover. Esp in MP.
- Story mode
   - Too many cutscenes. They are good, but in smaller amounts.
   - Too many dialogues are story-driven, I'd like to have control of all (or atl most) of them.
   - More interactive stuff. In ME2 you could open/close "windows" on Normandy, have a drink, use private terminal to call your LI upstairs and enjoy your time with her Nothing like this in ME3, it's disappointing.
   - Most of crew dialogues are "Zaeeded". It's terrible. It would be better if you could do like in ME1 or 2 - dialogues are always available, some options unlock/events appear during story/romance progression. I don't have anything against having same dialogue options for some time, because it's > no dialogue options at all.
   - There certainly should be more stuff for LI/crew overall part. Like more dialogues, activities, for example go dance together in citadels' club or somwhere else, or enjoy your time in bar/restaurant, or just go watch at presidium, and we have bar and games on Normandy! Why not to go there and enjoy your time with LI/whole crew? Like a friendly card game, or story-telling time, where whole crew (I mean not ship crew, but Sheps' team) gather there and elder teammates tell storyes about past to newer onse (I saw smth like that - Garrus was telling some stuff from past to crewmember, but only once and w/o Shep and rest part of crew). Especially I'd like to have more things to do with my LI.
   - If you had different LIs in ME1 and 2 it would make sence if there was some kind of "conversation" between new and old LI
   - Endings. You already know enogh about how community is pissed with them. I won't continue this topic here, as it will triple size my post. Everything that needed to be said on this topic is already said.
   - No Palaven - it's awful. I hoped I will see turians homeworld.
   - Thessia was far too short. Only 1 mission up there.
   - Citadel quests. "Pick, scan, deliver, get some rep" kind. Terrible.
   - CAN'T DANCE WITH LI :< Really disappointing.
   - Also option to pick 1 or 2 crewmembers to come with you somwhere on Citadel would be nice. And have a drink with them.
   - I'd like to see more cityes up there. In ME2 we had: Omega, Citadel, Illium. ME3 - Citadel. :<
   - Shepard still can't dance (yeah, I totally agree with rest of team, who says he can't do that )
   - Endings.
   - Endings.
   - Endings.
   - Endings.
   - Can't call mom, but can call Cortez. I was like "WTF?! I can call that gay guy but not my mom? :<" No offence to gay guys, just not interested in that kind of relationship
   - No explanation at all about books/candyes/flowers in hospital shop. Had to guess that they are for Ash. Bad. Also if you buy all of those gifts they disappear. (or do they appear somwhere later???) My Shep just gave her 1 book. Guess he lost rest of books in bar, sat down onto flower and ate all sweets. Badass.
   - Endings.
   - Heawy weapons - wish there were more situations where you REALLY need them. I needed to use heavy wep only once - on earth to shoot down AA gun. Oh, and flamethrowers on rachnee mission. Rest of time I found out that there was a boomstick nearby only after I killed everything and it was useless now. No time to pick up stuff in combat, you know. Have to take cover, shoot, etc. Really no time to look for pickups.
   - Can't check achievements in my cabin anymore. Bad. Though that thingie that was used for that purpose in ME2 is still there, on table.
   - Can't use private terminal to call LI upstairs. Could do that anytime after Collectors base in ME2.
   - Can't recruit Conrad :<
   - Where is my chief from ME2? I want him back cooking food

Part 3: What I'd like to see. (Similar to P2)
- More "cityes". Best way to go - when you resolve Rannoch conflict - you gain ability to wisit first settlement there. Same with Horison or Eden prime. Perfect - 1 city for 1 major race (Quarians, Asari, Turians, Humans, Salarians) + Citadel and Omega.
- More interactive for Normandy and for your teammates.
- More with LI, seriously.
- Couple of driving missions. I loved driving Mako in ME1 (though it was awful), loved driving Hammerhead in ME2 much more than Mako in 1st, and driving car in ME2 Lair DLC was most awesome ever.
- Photo of unmasked Tali is nice (I don't care where it's from, she is nice, and that's all I wanted) But I'd like to see her unmasked or even better in different (not suit) clothes in-game. Really, making face model when you have photo ain't that hard, I did enough of 3d modelling to say so. But as I said, Tali in not-suit-clothes-and-without-mask would be awesome.
- Spectre office looks too empty. Adding some spectres up there won't hurt.
- Shooting range is nice. Adding some events with crew up there is a good idea. Like shooting stuff there with Ashley or Kaidan (as they are spectres) and having a talk at same time.
- Dancing with Tali (LI) in Citadel, add it. Also having a drink/whatever will be nice too.
- Improve quest log. ATM it's just useless.

That's all for now, maybe I missed something. Thanks for attention.

[Alsuras]

All right, I'll give this a shot in the hope that our grievances really are being taken into account. Maybe something will actually be done.

1: Explaining the reapers was a terrible idea. When they were an unknowable menace from beyond the galaxy  they were cool. When you tried to explain them, you failed. You made them the product of circular and very fallible logic.

2: Fill those plot holes. How did my crew make it back to the normandy during a full scale battle? Why was Joker jumping through a relay during the end sequence [yes, he was, please stop arguing that point, because he was.] Other people will go into far better detail about your other horrible flaws in the ending.

3: Apologise, yeah, I would like an apology for the lies told to your fanbase about giving us a proper ending. I don't care if you intend to release one as a result of the backlash. We didn't get one with the game we shelled out up to 80 dollars for. We didn't get the definitive ending to a trilogy, we got the hamfisted setup for your next ME game based X amount of years into the future. You told us we'd not get LOST as an ending yet in design documents released to the public someone has "Lots of speculation!" written on the ending. So you deliberately set out to do the opposite of what you promised us.

4: Stop Casey Hudson making announcements. Get someone else from the dev team to speak in his place, Over thirty thousand people managing to raise over fifty thousand dollars for charity in the name of getting a better ending should not be dismissed as "some of the fans" and I resent our efforts being brushed off like that.

5: Keep the ham-fisted endings you already have, but add to them, give us alternatives. I had 100% Galactic Readiness and damn near the maximum assets I could get. On the main menu I was told "We're holding them back and actually winning in key locations" why could I not tell the Reaper child to go **** himself, and deliver some inspiring speech to the fleet? Yeah I'm sure the casualties would have been horrific, but every reaper that dies is gone forever.

[Diekid]

Overall I loved the game, great emotional scenes both sad and happy up to the ending.

Here's some general feedback:
The fetch quests are abit silly. Shepard overhears something and goes about fetching something he has nothing to do with. Besides that they track very poorly in your journal, this should be patched. Some, but not all, quest npcs are listed on your map, you do not know if you have completed the quest from the journal so you have to run around the citadel to see if there are any new npcs that you can talk to, because there is very little chance that you remember exactly where the npc's stood that you got the quests from. Sometimes the quests just pop up without you realizing that you actually overheard something important.

The ending:
To be fair from the rally speech my adrenaline was pumping. My heart racing through the entire London level. Up to the point where you get hit by the red beam. After that the pacing got really slow from being at 110%. Toward the end when Shepard and Anderson sits down it felt very final. The game could have ended there. Then it went on and when I had selected my option from the Starchild I was very confused and mad.
I'm not sure that any of the endings were better than just letting the Reapers win. According to the intro of the first game the very name "Mass Effect" comes from the existance of the relays and their effect on the civilizations of the galaxy. By destroying them Mass Effect is over, so I guess that is very final. 

I made the Geth and the Quarians play nice, does that matter? I cured the genophage, does that matter?

In the end, I didn't expect Shepard to live, I expected there to be sacrifice along the way. But the ending ruined the universe, my shepard wouldn't have stood for this he would have given the starchild the middle finger. For the first time in history a galaxy is united against the reapers, that is our weapon. We don't need the starchilds stupid space magic.

// Diekid Shepard

Modifié par Diekid, 17 mars 2012 - 11:34 .

[atis]

I am more of the sapy hero type like shep gets the girl and or dies to give there friend's a future that you see. to that end I sent this to chris priestly last night in the hope that some one at bioware saw this. I thoght I would post it here to for others opinions. be aware my speling and gramer are bad.


I am typing this in th hope some thing can be done to save the title that is mass effect as it is an epic story that I have folowed from me1 to me3. I dont know if you can or want to change the ending. I dont even know if you will bother reading this but he who dares some times wins. so here go's I have always noticed bit's of mass effect that I could have wanted to change. but there was no need because the game's were perfect as they are untill mass effect 3. It did not have the finality most of us wanted. granted shepard dying is pretty final it still fellt unfinished and the full ending with shep in the ruble to me said to be continued not the end. to that end I have put down some of my own ideas for How I wanted mass effect 3 to end. if you want or can do some thing with it then yay! if you dont then oh dear it was worth a shot life moves on and all that.

oh and forgive the speling and gramer I am not very good at it

After shep opens the citadel and you're team know yore still alive you're love interest should try to get to you with Cortez In the shuttle (this is where the war asset points should come in to play)

0/3000points= the shuttle is hit and destroyed in transit by harbinger as it returns from it's attack at the conduit
Which gives you the three ending's we already have. (Ending set one)

3000/5000points=the shuttle is hit and crashes on the citadel shep thinks there dead you then get the conversation with Anderson he die's
And you collapse on the platform but you're love interest arrives and try's to pick you up the platform move's and you get to the catalyst you have the same conversation with him as you do already but you have you're companion to help you move to the options. (Ending set two)

>Synthesis- shep and there companion hold each other and step in to the beam (for the tali fans why not have tali take here mask off and show her face as they kiss and slowly fade away)

>Control the reapers- shep gets zapped and the signal is sent out your companion then pulls you away from the machine shep is still alive and him/her and companion hold each other and kiss as the citadel falls apart around them (for the tali fans same as before)

>Kill the reapers-you're companion helps you to the chamber where you start the shooting at it. It explodes knocking shep to ground you're companion rushes to sheps side thay hug and kiss as the station again falls apart (for the tali fans same again)


>If you did not romance any one-Anderson survives and he replaces you're companion for most of it but in stead of the hugs and kissing in the kill/control reaper options (ending set two) you both just stand at the edge of the platform and watch the signal hit earth before the citadel falls apart or for the synthesis option shep stand's by the beam terns to Anderson and salutes before stepping back in to the beam giving you the same end as synthesis in the first one. (Ending set one)

5000 points and over= the shuttle is attacked but defended by the fleet that shep built so the shuttle gets to the citadel safe you have you're chat Anderson and you're companion shows up to get you and Anderson out of there shep start's to walk away and hacket calls shep about things not working. You’re companion carries Anderson back to the shuttle. And shep walk's over to the console and collapses you're companion returns and they both talk to the catalyst and you get the three options

>Synthesis - same as (ending set two)

>Control the reapers-same as (ending set two) except you get back to the shuttle and escape before the citadel fully falls apart

>Kill the reapers-same as (ending set two) except you get back to the shuttle and escape before the citadel fully falls apart

>If you did not romance any one-same as (ending set two) except Anderson finds the illusive mans shuttle and you escape before the citadel fully falls apart

Optional moral ending paragon/renegade
If you were a paragon or renegade through all the games you should get the option to threaten or convince the catalyst to call off the reapers

Renegade= you start you're chat with the catalyst and then after the catalyst gives you the three options you get a renegade trigger prompt and shep starts to get angry for what has happened and what it was for. Shep then threatens to wipe every thing out organic and synthetics using the reaper control port if the reapers aren’t called off. Only trying to maintain the galaxy's balance the catalyst gives in fearing total collapse of the galaxy. Shep leave's using the illusive man's shuttle for (ending set one) with his companion in (ending set two) or Cortez's shuttle with Anderson and you're companion in (ending set three)

Paragon= you start you're chat with the catalyst and in the middle of it you get a paragon trigger prompt shepard stops the catalyst and starts to talk about organic and synthetic life being able to live together (perhaps use the paragon ending for the geth and the quariens as an argument point) having seen what shepard has done to broker peace in the galaxy the catalyst decides to call the reapers off for now to give all the races a chance for peace it then ends the same as the renegade one.

After credits or just before them
There should be a finally for shep in the form of a memorial on the home world of sheps companion if they die or a small cut scene if they survive
(I only romanced some of the characters so I don't know how you would end some of them.
But the one's I do know)

tali = you get a shot of a geth foot walking over a rocky serfice the camera zooms out and you see geth building part of a house with shepard on ranoch
Tali walks up to shep and give him a drink they hug and look out over an ocean by there house.

Liara = you get a shot of a window of house on thesia you go in through the window and see shep sitting in a chair reading and is suddenly interrupted by two small asari asking shep for a story. liara enters pregnant and tells the kids to stop pestering there father and then sits in his/her lap shep then say's just one story then the girl's sit in front of sheps chair and listen you go back out the window to a view thesia.

Jack = you start with a shot of new alliance recruit's on a training Course with jack shouting at them one falls over a hand covered in n7 armour reaches out to help them up the recruit say's thank you sir jack comes over and tells the recruit to get back to the squad and then terns and say's welcome back shep they hug camera moves up to show earth slowly recovering

Ash = you get a shot of a dirt path and a streak of blue the camera follows to show it is ash running from and shooting at a bunch of baterien pirates you then see more gun shots come from a different direction toward the baterians two of the three pirates fall the third ash shoots with a shotgun ash terns and say's thanks sheperd some more talking they hug and walk off down the path

Miranda = I can see Miranda's being the same as ash
No romance = you get an out side shot of a building you look down in through a window to see all the crew who made it past the reapers sat down on in a bar toasting fallen friend's and family
　
Those are only the one's I can think of because those are the only one's I've played

Modifié par atis, 17 mars 2012 - 11:57 .

[HinduCowGirl]

I want a happy ending. Where the reaper threat is put to rest, and where Sheppard get his/her blue babies with Liara.

[Sharrack]

First, the quest journal is just awful. Make it like ME1: differ between primary (don't need tracking) and secondary (need tracking).

Changes to the Ending:

- Normandy being in transit doesn't make any sense. Especially with crewmates aboard who where on earth previously, so more input on this please.

- What did actually happen to all those people on the Citadel? During ME3 im able to constantly boost security, even deciding if i want them to concentrate on a possible attack. So did that have any impact?

- Sure we are able to finish all those open plotlines but then we get the destruction of the Relays in every possible ending making most of those decisions irrelevant.

- Really missing an epilogue. True most plots got finished but that was in a war scenario and I, and my guess is also a lot of others, want to know what happens afterwards.

- Shepards death being mandatory feels wrong. It was impossible in 1 and almost needed to be your goal from the begining in 2. The motto always was "Against all odds". And what agonizing decisions is Casey talking about? Only one i remember as agonizing is if lives should be sacrificed to safe the council and even that one weights less heavy after actually hearing how many people are aboard the Destiny Ascension. Most decisions i made because of who my Shepard was, there wasn't really much agonizing just: "That's the only way it can be done!". And if you play Renegade there isn't probably even one decision which is even remotely agonizing to your Shepard.

So i would really like to have the possibility of a golden ending with Shepard surviving and the galaxy, while damaged, still intact and working, instead of bombed back into the dark ages (no Relays and most fleets in SOL. If they can overcome this because the motto is "Against all odds" then something is really wrong here). That should be the worst possible "good" outcome. And then there should be some in between those two and also the Reapers win as worst outcome (perhaps even here different outcomes, like from everyone dead to everyone indoctrinated and a lot of new reaperbabys).

With the ending as is, i have to deny it actually being real, otherwise there would be no reason to replay any Mass Effect game prior to the ending as in the end nothing will really matter. I'm no Turian, only one standing in the end, just isn't enough.

[Remington]

I highly recommend to CLEAN UP THE ENDING. The final confrontation with Illusive Man still makes absolute sense to me and was great.

I even like the catalyst as the whole scene reminded me of the MOVIE CONTACT, when the Alien took the form of Ellis dead father to communicate with her.

The last 5 minutes after your final choice however do not make sense to me. The whole ending is much too fragmented that you can get a clear sense out of it.

Why does Shepard breath in one scene, why is the Citadel not blown up in the Control ending? Where the hell did the Normandy go down and why? Why are all the squadmates suddenly back on the Normandy, even the two mates from the final run? What happens to all your characters?

I do not believe that after writing such a brilliant story you did overlook these massive plot holes.

There was TOO MUCH SACRIFICE IN THE END, and what left is just a feeling of being hopeless. after playing the first two games I was not prepared for such a depressing end. Part one and two had a great epic conclusion.

In the third part there was already so much loss included (the Fall of Earth, Palaven and Thessia, the dying characters), what is needed is an ending that equalizes all theses sacrifices. Instead, you decided to put even more sacrifice into the game by destroying the Citadel, and all the Relays. And the Normandy and all your friends trapped on an unknown world in the middle of nowhere. This ending just leaves and hopeless feeling, and did not expect or want that after expecting an ending like in part one or two

[Kidd]

I'll add my four cents on things I find realistic to fix post-release;

1) Choices do not matter in the Ending
I know we're supposed to feel that the various subplots are tied up before the end of the game. I agree that they are, it was wonderful even! The problem comes the moment you reach the Starchild and everything goes out the window. Why does it matter if the genophage is cured or not after this? Whether the geth live, whether they are upgraded to proper AI status, etc? The ending screws them all any way. Everyone stranded in the Sol system will die, and for all intents and purposes, these races will never meet one another again after the conclusion of ME3 due to the destruction of the mass relays.

While I do believe there is some beauty to the thought that living without Reapers means living without the gifts they and their masters gave us, it ends up unfulfilling. Nothing we did changed anything in the end aside from the very final blue/red/green choice. You could perhaps say the choices do matter, because depending on your choices previously you will or will not have access to all the endings, which bring me to-

2) How do War Assets translate into Beams?
So I cured the genophage and the krogan race is writing a collective love letter to Commander Shepard as thanks. Makes sense and is quite awesome =) But I don't understand how making sure I have batarian fleet support can coexist will unlock new beams of light in that hidden room on the Citadel. It seems arbitrary, and the choice&consequence may very well exist here in game play, but it does not in plot, to me.

3) Lack of Closure
At the end of the game, my LI ended up stranded on a random planet with Joker and EDI, and she smiled as she walked out. This is a very alienating scene and I don't understand how my LI who was so scared we weren't both going to make it out alive will suddenly be smiling at the idea of being Robinson Crusoe in Space. That's what is shown to me, but what's more important is what I'm not shown.

I can only assume all the non-humans in Sol are dying off slowly on their ships and life basically sucks. Even if this is how it must be (which I'm not sure I agree with, but that's not the main point), then I want to see this. A few, perhaps even quite short, glimpses of how the different races are coping/celebrating/dying/in-fighting after the Reaper war is officially over would be absolutely great to see. Perhaps some looks into our squadmates as well, though those two things could very well be one and the same thing. For instance, a scene with Wrex and the krogan could show us how both the krogan and Wrex are doing after the war at the same time.

4) Failing face imports
I believe patching this is already under way, but nonetheless it's a pretty big issue that should be patched imho. Looking forward to seeing it working properly in the future! =)


Thanks for creating this thread! The open dialogue between customer and developer and BioWare's willingness to acknowledge their mistakes are - aside from amazing games - huge reasons why I follow this company =)

[AllThatJazz]

 Great thread. It would be really wonderful if there could be a 'true' end to the Mass Effect series that is a real collaboration between devs and fans Jessica, your constant and pleasant communication with the BSN has been much appreciated. Thanks. 

Everything I'm about to write has already been written, either here or elsewhere on these boards - but I guess I'd like to reinforce those ideas in my own way. So here goes! Apologies in advance for walls of text.



- the main thing that disappoints me in regard to the ending specifically, is the lack of closure. Why was Joker running off? How did (apparently) dead sqaddies end up on the Normandy? Where are they stranded? Is anyone else stranded with them? Will they always be stranded? How are crewmembers such as Garrus and Tali going to survive long term in (presumably) a levo-based ecology? How does the rest of the galaxy fare after the endgame? The last part of a trilogy is, I would argue, the time to be answering questions not asking new ones. If this had been the end of ME2 and we all knew that there was more coming that would provide the answers, then I doubt the 'closure' camp would be quite so aggravated. The current end feels too much like a cliffhanger, and yet we're being told that it's the end of Shepard's story. Too many loose ends. If no other changes are made, then please at least fill in some of the gaps for us. A series of slides as an epilogue, in the vein of previous Bioware titles, would do at a pinch. Details - what happens to the Quarians, the Krogan and all the other races? Has humanity been plunged back into a Dark Age, or do they rebuild? What happens to the alien fleets surrounding Earth? Is there still a galactic community or is everybody isolated? Were the geth really destroyed (if Shep picked that option)?



- I'm a fan of bittersweet, I can even get into grimdark when it's suitably justified. But you know what? The more I think about it, after everything they've been through together, the more I believe that Shep and the surviving crew of the Normandy deserve their 'Return of the Jedi' moment. The montage of a celebrating galaxy, followed by a brief shot of Shep & co. ... I dunno, dancing around a campfire with some volus or something  It's fine to make us work for it, and it's fine (great, even) for the bittersweet/grimdark endings to still be available. But a happy ending is the ultimate pay-off for those fans who want it and will work for it. To satisfy the 'happy ending' folks won't take much, either. It could actually tie in pretty nicely with the idoctrination/hallucination theory. Shep wakes in the rubble of London, realises what's been happening, there's a big old boss battle with Harbinger, Shep wins but is about to be killed anyway somehow, gets rescued by Normandy in the nick of time and they all get stranded together however that happens ... or just, hey. An extra button in the Crucible that lets you destroy the reapers without destroying everything else too ...


 - LOVE the indoc/hallucination theory. It's the perfect solution to providing post current endgame content, without having to retrospectively fill in those naughty gaps and plotholes, and it's a fantastic explanation as to why the endgame as is, was so weird and unsatisfying... making this the explanation would also be a great reward for the people over on that thread, who have been a constant source of positive and imaginative thinking since the game's release. I'll be honest, it's only their theories that are making me want to see ME3 through to the end at the moment. I admit, I'm slightly embarassed at the extent of my emotional attachment to the wonderful ME universe and the glorious characters within it, but there you go.



 - personally, I'd like to see a proper confrontation with Harbinger. I've been itching for a showdown with that guy - he annoyed the hell out of me throughout ME2, and his 'assuming control' of Kenson in Arrival prevented Shep from being able to warn all those Batarians in good time. I owe him some payback. It doesn't have to be a mammoth battle or anything (perhaps just a conversation, even?), but to give him one blink-and-you'll-miss-it cutscene followed by a choice of buttons to determine his fate, seems like doing a disservice to a decent antagonist.



 - My main gripe with ME3 as a whole is that it seems as though, as it stands, I cannot get the best (imo) currently available ending (Destroy, Shep lives), such as it is, in SP alone. I'm hearing that about 3800 EMS is the max that people are able to achieve without either going into multiplayer, or the Infiltrator App. 4000 is the necessary minimum for the Shep breathes ending, assuming Shep can 'save' Anderson. I like the idea of the GAW, and of multiplayer and apps etc tieing in, making battles easier, even allowing the galaxy at large to suffer less damage etc. But these things should not ever have this kind of effect on the core single-player experience. Single-players who do not choose to avail themselves of alternative ways to play, should not be punished by being locked out of content within the single player campaign. Very easy problem to solve - include more GAW assets (new systems to explore, mission-based content etc) via dlc, enough to enable single players to reach the required amount. Sadly will not help those without an internet connection.



- Lack of exploration. ME3 is feeling rather more linear even than ME2. Hm. It does make narrative sense for there to be less exploration. I hate it when there is supposed to be some kind of impending disaster, and yet nonetheless my character is able to freely wander around performing menial tasks while said disaster hangs about until I'm ready. And I think that ME3 largely handles this very well indeed. Locking out sidequests after a certain amount of time, having to be on Reaper alert while scanning etc. But there could still be room for exploring, while maintaining a focus on the war. While scanning a system, instead of picking up a war asset or some intel, the Normandy picks up a distress signal from a Spec ops group who have been penned in by Reaper forces/Cerberus etc. Short mission to help out, I get the feeling of having done some random exploration, and I achieve some new war assets to help me unlock my ending. 



- Finally. I hate to say this, since I don't like the ending buttons, and I don't like the idea of having to pay for a satisfactory end to the game. However, if you're intent on keeping the 'instant solution' buttons, and intent on keeping the current endings as they are, then make those buttons work better for the player. Bring out some mission-based SP dlc (eg Take Back Omega, Evacuate Ilium or something). It also includes a MP map for multiplayers, a new unlockable ending (ie a new 'choice' at the crucible that leads to different outcomes, cutscenes, a battle to the death with Harbinger, new colour of explosion <_< or whatever), and enough new SP war assets to make unlocking that ending possible. If you went down this route, there's almost no limit to the number and type of endings that you could provide. Hell, you could make it so that the very last bit of dlc you bring out is the one that includes the 'Golden' ending. 



Eh, that's it. Sorry it's long. Hope it's worth something.

Edit: Formatting 

Modifié par AllThatJazz, 17 mars 2012 - 11:35 .

[GrandmasterD]

Enjoyed everthing aboout game from the combat system to how deep the reletions with your mates gets, only thing is as many think the ending feels like i got cheated. where are my choices playing in? the choices i made from 3 full games only to end with that i can to A B or C and its doesent matter what choices you made before samething is going to happen anyway, green red or blue explosion. just made me really sad had hopes for this ending now they are all scatterd

[EnglishRedneck]

I think the indoctrination theory being true would be a way to make the existing ending into a masterstroke. As for the continuation to a real conclusion, here's a few ideas...

Throughout the last confrontation, it should switch to scenes of the ground and space battles. The armada coming out of the relay and attacking, the Quarian vs Geth space battle - those scenes were among the best I've seen in any game or even movie! Maybe even show us battles going on on other homeworlds, with races such as the Elcor giving everything to fight.
You could also show our companions from all games fighting too.

Once the player has done their part in the final battle (preferably surviving!), rather than destroy the Reapers outright, I would prefer to see their capabilities vastly weakened. Then it goes back to the various battles - especially the one over Earth. You see everyone make that final push and destroy the Reapers entirely.

Afterwards, it's a case of the galaxy celebrating. You get to see Shepard with your companions and most importantly a great scene with your LI.

Mass Relays should survive so that the universe of Mass Effect is open to continue onto many great stories to come.

[EgoMaster]

First of all, thanks. At first statements from Bioware executives seemed like damage control but now my opinion started to shift to "actually being heard", though I will make my decision about that after some official and concrete information about what the single-player DLCs will add to the game, especially about the endings.

I want to group this into two sections:

1. Minor problems about the game itself:

Those are mainly some unpolished things or overlooked details.

• Repeating dialogue between NPCs: ME3 requires a lot of backtracking to Citadel and you hear repeated dialogues between NPCs or between Shepard and NPCs even after you finish the quests about them. I listened to the human soldier trying to send her child to her Asari partner gazillion times. The soldier at the docking bay wanted to be transferred to a unit to face the Reapers even after I approved her request as a Spectre. It's annoying but nothing major.
• Multiplayer is required for the best ending: You gave players the option to have a combat or narrative oriented experience so why force them into multiplayer? I don't play multiplayer, I don't like multiplayer, I suck at multiplayer and I'm fed up with people telling me I suck at it. But I have to play it to get my EMS over 5000. Please rebalance this.
• Some minor dialogue inconsistencies: I think the game handles your past choices one by one. On some occasions Shepard turned from angry about one thing to happy about another thing all too quickly, during the same dialogue with the same person. I can't give you any specific details unfortunately. If I had known I would write something like this, I would take notes.

2. Major problems about the ending:

I will copy paste this from another thread:

• Quarian - Geth conflict undermines the ending: The Child God says "The created will always rebel against their creator. Synthetics will wipe out organics" but the Geth stopped before wiping out Quarians and didn't let it turn into a genocide. The only evil Geth throughout the series were the ones indoctrinated by Sovereign. Also the
  fact that the Geth on the Quarian Homeworld are trying to jump start immune systems says a lot about the relationship between them. You don't strengthen your enemy's soft spots, you try to exploit them. Geth don't
  do this.
• The relationship between EDI and Joker undermines the ending: If combining organics and synthetics is indeed the ultimate step in evolution, EDI and Joker took a much bigger step in that regard than the so called Reaper "solution". Wiping out all advanced organics just resets the relationship between synthetics and organics, thus growing them apart and taking away any chance of co-existence. The presupposition of synthetics wiping out all organics borders around strict fatalism and it doesn't make sense. Why would the rebel synthetics be any different then Reapers? Why would they even touch child races or primitive flora and fauna?
• Trying to prevent something by achieving it? Riiight: What The Child God says boils down to this: "Rebel synthetics will kill all organics at once, we kill them by installments." It completely disregards the fact that nothing changes for organics, it doesn't matter if they're wiped out by synthetics or Reapers and they don't care if the child races are spared or not. They're being exterminated there and now and they want to prevent that. Commiting genocide for "what might be" seems a bit illogical. The God Child also doesn't even know the concept of free will. I think this god is a little confused.
• All roads lead to Rome: I think the majority of fans are angry because all 3 endings completely disregard what you did in 3 games. They all boil down to a meaningless underlying reason that gives way to 3 meaningless choices, none of which gives you a sense of victory regardless of Shepard's survival. The first Fallout's ending got it right. ME3 couldn't.
• Inconsistencies: In other news, characters that are implied dead (or supposed to be dead anyway) magically walk out of Normandy when it's stranded on Gilligan's planet. If you take EDI to the final mission and choose synthesis, it's even worse. EDI is killed by the Reapers while approching Citadel's beam in London and just 15 minutes later she walks out of Normandy, cuddling with Jeff. How did she even get aboard the Normandy? Another issue is the God Child. When you first meet he says "I control the Reapers, they are my solution". 5 minutes later he gives me 3 choices: To control, to destroy or to become one. Wait. Hasn't he mentioned already that controlled the Reapers? Then why does he need me to "control" or to "destroy"? Why doesn't he just shut them down? Crucible can't be the reason, since he says "Crucible provided them with *new* options. That's a long way from "Crucible took away my ability to control and gave it to you".
• And I want to underline this: The first Fallout's ending got it right. It had a feeling of closure, it showed us the consequences of what we did in the game world. And it still wasn't the ending most players for expected: We helped the colony we grew up in and we were banished for it. No good deed goes unpunished I guess.

I also believe indoctrination theory will break the games otherwise excellent writing. It's too easy, too cheesy. I liked the idea behind the endings (but not the way they are executed) because they were bold. Indoctrination seems like an escapist approach.

Modifié par EgoMaster, 17 mars 2012 - 11:45 .

[JulienJaden]

First of all, I want to say that I appreciate that you guys are willing to listen to us and, from what I gather,  are at least considering making changes to the game post-release to address the issues we are having with it. I believe that showing your willingness to act on our concerns, to listen to our feedback and maybe even make changes based on what we ask for can be a step in the right direction and may just lead to something that all of us are satisfied with.

I will try to give the most accurate feedback I can and give solutions where I think what I can come up with seems viable and fits in.
Please note that, as of the moment I write this, I haven't read any of the other feedback in this thread to write about the things that seem most important, off the top of my head; I may, however, endorse other feedback as more precise or their solutions as better fitting later on.



1) The endings

Well, I  guess there's no way around starting with this...
As I've said more often than I can count, I was just as disappointed as many others about how the ending played out. We all know by now what happens after Harbinger shoots at Shepard: Shepard stumbles into the beam and to the control room, the encounter with Illusive Man occurs, Anderson dies, Shepard is being transported to the Catalyst, Shepard chooses, similar sequences, Normandy crash.
Now, some set pieces are great. Anderson dying the way he does if you don't screw up, i.e. the conversation he has with you and, in the end, saying he's proud of you... That hits the spot. But why did you cut out the longer version of it? I compared them and I don't see why, because the longer version was even more emotional and, with all that's happening, with this as "the end of all things" (to quote the Lord of the Rings), it seems fitting that he says things like that, just like Frodo and Sam did. If this scene stays more or less the same, overall, please include the longer version of Anderson and Shepard's last conversation.
Now, Illusive Man dying, depending on how you talk to him, is fine by me. But as it was said before, with him as the last foe to talk to, it diverts the attention from the real enemy, the Reapers.

Harbinger may have only been planned as a minor character or, even less significant, as the voice of the Reapers. But it would definitely be good to see him make an occurence more prominent than just shooting at Shepard. Like, for example, taking control of the Illusive Man's dead body to talk to Shepard or manifesting itself as a voice in Shepard's mind to argue with; not necessarily indoctrinate Shepard but give us an opportunity to talk to another Reaper, to ask questions, to get answers.

Even before what happens on the Citadel: Why did you abandon the concept we can read about in the leaked script? I think it's a great idea to let the EMS determine in which state Shepard and his allies reach the conduit. If everything's fine, Shepard and Anderson go up there, Illusive Man dies (or survives? That would also be interesting, as a best outcome) and afterwards, they sit there and talk. If the EMS was so low that Anderson or both were injured, Anderson dies. If not, they just talk. Maybe Anderson is injured by TIM and loses consciousness but survives nonetheless, if the EMS is high enough.

This, overall, leads to something that I will try and elaborate some more later on: Give the EMS more impact. We've worked very hard to gather a lot of it and even if I started the game with no previous saves, I had no problem getting 4000 or more, with a little bit of multiplayer. What is the maximum we can get? 7000? 8000, if we do everything right and have close to 100% readiness? Please add additional variables to take that into account, because otherwise, it just feels like we didn't have to bother in the first place.

Okay, now, back to the endings...
What really made them unsatisfying was the lack of an epilogue, the confusing and unfounded flight of the Normandy, the lack of choices and impact of past decisions (remember, you promised so many endings that one can't even clearly determine which ending you got) and what seems to be a very shallow and redundant reason for the Reapers to destroy all highly civilized life.
This is a tough one, of course. Off the top of my head, I'm not sure I can offer something that is more than a very basic idea.
I don't think the Catalyst should be personified like that. It's an AI. It's intelligent and doesn't have to assume a form like that. Why should it look human when I may just as well like like a holographic model of Harbinger or any other Reaper? Or maybe it's just swirling code, an abstract form by its own choice, somewhat similar to Virgil (although, I'm aware, Virgil looked like that because of milennia of neglect).
Also, why should Catalyst be unable to see the logic behind what Shepard did. Shepard united the whole galaxy (or sacrificed many, depending on how you play). Shepard's way of handling things throughout the game should have an impact on the options. If Shepard helped the Geth ascend and they made peace with the Quarians, how could Catalyst ignore that there is at least the possibility. Why is it so mistrusting?
I think what Arkis wrote in his fanfiction version of the ending makes sense: That, IF you want to stick with this as the Reapers' motivation, Catalyst should explain how the Reapers came into existence. 

But maybe they have a different motivation altogether. Maybe they aren't there to preserve life but they are really just self-centered and harvest advanced species to reproduce themselves; the left the Mass Relays and Citadel so they could influence the direction the species develop in. And they attack every 50.000 years to make sure they never become so strong they could pose an actual threat to them. They are just a machine race and have become so arrogant that they view themselves as gods, which would be in line with what Sovereign said in ME1. They came into existence as an experiment by a very advanced race, millions of years ago, they destroyed them... maybe they didn't even build the mass relays themselves but that race did and the Reapers devised their plan to reproduce and advance.

As for the Crucible and the options it should give: Well, maybe the Catalyst isn't even really a 'Reaper' AI but one from the species that created them. Maybe it would have been their last-ditch effort to destroy them but it was already too late.
The destruction ending could, in some way, be added, but with different nuances. Maybe, instead of it destroying all life on Earth for no reason, the worst outcome possible, if one has really low EMS and failed in many way, a Reaper attacks the Crucible just as it's charging up, there is a malfunction and the energy spreads out of control, killing everything in the Sol system, making the mass relays explode and, because of that explosion, most races in the galaxy are extinct (because of the supernova-like explosions; by the way, a supernova would kill all people in nearby systems, too). That would be a bad ending. I don't think there's something wrong with including those.
Hell, the WORST possible ending should include Shepard watching all this from the Citadel, watching as everything he did became undone, as the Reapers, but also most races in the galaxy are eradicated, and then commit suicide or just watch and wait as the Citadel finally explodes, too.
For those who play Renegade or just don't like the Geth, an alternative, including the destruction of all synthetic beings, not just the Reapers, should be included.
And, as the best destruction outcome, it should only destroy the Reapers.
Note that, in none but the worst ending, the mass relays and/or the Citadel would be destroyed.

I'm not sure whether the Synthesis ending is really fitting. Possibly, as something that not only ends the war but 'integrates' the Reapers into galactic society. This would, of course, have to change them into more sociable beings and I could see some Shepards sacrificing themselves to infuse their mind, their tolerance and benevolence into the Reapers' minds to change them into beings that would become the guides and guardians of this new creation. THAT would make this ending pretty damn awesome, actually.
Of course, if Shepard is a Renegade, they might become malevolent gods or slaves of this new creation that, as you could foreshadow, might rebel one day and take revenge.
Oh, and if your EMS is too low, again, a Reaper fires, overloads the Crucible and all creation is "reaperfied". The entire galaxy would be theirs.

Control would, of course, have to be nuanced, too: If one is a Paragon, Shepard could make the Reapers leave (but without dying in the process) or make them, alternatively, see reason, maybe give them some of Shepard's empathy. They'd become sentient beings capable of emotion which, again, might lead to them becoming a part of galactic society or cause them to want to redeem themselves and/or find a way to reproduce without slaughtering trillions.
A Renegade would make them the slaves of humanity, fighting only to establish human supremacy throughout the galaxy, just like Illusive Man wanted. They may, possibly, rebel one day, but again, that is left to one's imagination.
In the worst outcome (low EMS), this backfires, too, and instead, a signal is spread that fries most sentient beings' brains and (maybe) the Reapers, too.

That's, what, 9 endings? Of course, there's a lot more to do. Some things don't fit in just like that, and you'd have to consider stuff like medium, high or superhigh EMS, too, and maybe whether or not the Collector base was destroyed or not. But all of that I came up with right now, based on the ending as it is at the moment, and as a basic concept, I think it's not half bad.

Granted, that wouldn't be the end of it. Depending on what decisions you made throughout the game, there'd be repercussions (for example, if Wreav is leading the Krogans and it's a good ending, they will start waging war on their weakened allies and, depending on what ending you chose, the Reapers will end it in a precise manner [killing Wreav], a brutal [killing almost every Krogan] or no way at all [leading to another Krogan Rebellion that may last hundreds of years]).
Your companions do things after this ending, based on how you treated them. If Garrus developed in a Paragon way (that's what you determine in ME1, right?), he will become a Spectre or Primarch or something along those lines to keep the peace and sets an example of Thurian-Human partner- and friendship that makes them close allies. If he's a renegade... I don't know, mabye he becomes a ruthless general that wants to establish Thurian-Human supremacy. And if he isn't loyal, that may change.
Also, depending on how you handled the Dalatrass, the Councilors and others throughout the game, some may become very mistrusting of the humans, even more so if they are the only council race after ME1, and unrest and war breaks out soon after. But if you did well and the Salarians, for example, are the only ones who aren't satisfied with you and want to sterilize the Krogans again and fear the Rachni, you may handle this either by being a good Shepard and reassuring them or the coalition against the Reapers wages war against those who didn't support them when they would have needed the Salarians most.

ALL of those are just examples, but you get the point: Shepard made so many decisions along the way that some of them are bound to have negative fallout or unexpected payoffs after the war on the Reapers is over. That's the most important part, what we want and need most, what the current ending CANNOT provide.
Maybe Shepard dies in the process. Maybe Shepard survives. You should implement a conversation somewhere, maybe with Anderson, where Shepard states what s/he'd like to do when this is all over, and give us the possibility to settle down with Liara/Tali/whoever, to serve the alliance, work as a spectre, become a diplomat... Whatever. Give us choices and possibilities. Let some things like loyalty and how you interacted with them throughout the game/s determine whether some of your crew members would rather stay with you or pursue their own goals, now that the greatest threat is dealt with. Give the good, faithful Shepard a family that s/he lives with or that's waiting for her/him and let the Shepards that changed their love interest in every game become unfaithful, if the players want that.
I'm probably going too much into detail here, but you see that there's a lot to do. But I don't think it's impossible. We don't even want fully animated and voiced sequences (though at least some of those would be AWESOME); if your art department creates some background images for the fate of every crew member and race and you write up some texts that change depending on what you did, that would be really, really great. Maybe one animated sequence of celebration or desperation, maybe a little more, if that's not too big an effort, but you see what I'm getting at here.



2) The endgame on Earth (boy, #1 was really long, wasn't it? ^^)

What I missed most after ME2 was that there were no choices for me to make. I expected there to be something more than just choosing who should accompany me during the final push, like maybe Anderson asking who I'd entrust with leading an important fireteam to protect the tanks' left flank or whom I'd leave behind to care for the wounded or coordinate the attack from the forward base or keep the fleet up to date on our status and maybe call in bombardements whenever necessary. Stuff like that where you have to judge who would be most suitable for which role, based on how well you know your crew.

I also really would have loved for the EMS to impact how the battle goes, how many casualties there are; some decisions in the past and some assets you acquired may be very important here and there and should, in my opinion, be illustrated one way or another (not necessarily all of them, but, you know, some) so you know you made a good call and it was worth it. Stuff like hearing over the radio how the Destiny Acension just destroyed a Destroyer in one volley or how the Cruiser Hong-Kong protected Admiral Hackett's flagship from a devestating attack, or how the biotics from the academy saved a squad that they thought lost or how the Elcor 'walkers' broke through a fortified position that would have otherwise cost them many lives to storm.
Stuff like that would already add to the feeling of accomplishment and would make it feel so much more like all of what's happening is, at least in part, thanks to you. "You did good, child. You did good." That's what we want to hear.

So, any chance you change and possibly extend the battle for earth, involve the assets (or at least some of them, based on a ranking, like Destiny Ascension > Cruiser Hong-Kong > Cruiser Dresden) from best to worst outcome, so if an un-updated version of the fleet would have many casualties, with this asset, they are reduced, with this and that, a few sacrifice themselves to save the rest and if you have all updates, the have almost no casualties. Not all the time, of course, but things like that affecting what you imagine to be the battle going on everywhere, some of it being narrated to you before you charge into combat, for example by that voice over the radio in the forward base, or by finding a datapad in the command center where some successes are listed, while the rest is mentioned via radio while you're advancing, THAT would be absolutely stellar.

3) Others

With those two aspects out of the way, in a, hopefully, helpful manner, I'd like to address some smaller issues: Like I said before, the journal could really use some work. It's really confusing to have it all in one section that doesn't distinguish between finished, side and main quests, doesn't update and thus forces you to sometimes go back somewhere, just to realize you already did that.
There are also some displaying bugs when it comes to the quests, where the map doesn't tell you that the person you're looking for is in that section and that you can turn the quest in. Sometimes, it keeps marking somebody when you turned the quest in and even change the area, so that exiting and reloading makes that marker go away.

Some of the romance scenes are a tiny bit short, which is a minor concern to me. Especially the ones with Garrus and Tali could use a slight extension. That being said, Tali could really show some face and maybe Garrus could just lie in bed with Shepard, half-naked, too. Those are, again, minor concerns, but it would really add to the overall quality if you gave Tali a distinct look and possibly an ingame model without the mask on, since I believe that you could very well live up to our expectations and you should really put a little more effort into it than just photoshopping a stock photo.

The multiplayer mode also has some bugs that need attention. The most annoying one I have noticed so far is a randomly occuring refusal of the character to shoot, use abilities or melee attacks. Note that walking, running, taking cover and aiming are not affected, though. You're just a sitting duck. And that tends to happen in the worst possible situations... It's almost like it senses my tension.


... And I think that's it, for now. One could surely criticize more and argue about decisions concerning the game's combat and modification system and stuff like that, but those are, in my opinion, more satisfying than in ME2 and they are really not as big a concern to me as, primarily, the ending and, secondarily, how the assets and overall readiness affect the battle for Earth.
Please tell us soon how you're going to deal with this. Don't rush things afterwards. It would be way more satisfying for us to know that you give the final battle an overhaul, work on a great variety of endings and maybe include some ideas none of us are thinking of right now that make it even better than to feel like we forced you into releasing something that changes too little and is too similar to what is already in place.